Food and Recipes Fats Butter Clarified Butter Recipe Be the first to rate & review! Clarified butter isn't an ingredient you'll typically find in recipes, but it is a secret weapon of many restaurant kitchens. This simple cooking fat is the best of both worlds—it has the richness and flavor of butter, but the frying properties of oil, which means it won't burn if you're cooking over high heat or for an extended period of time. The butter is "clarified" because it has no additional liquid. Most brands of butter are about 15 percent water (in the form of milk proteins and actual water), and when you simmer the butter and remove those liquids, you're left with pure butterfat. To make clarified butter, all you need is unsalted butter, a saucepan, and five minutes. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, then bring it to a boil. The water content of the butter will look foamy and rise to the surface then begin to evaporate. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer the butter until the solids (tiny brown specks) sink to the bottom of the saucepan, about 5 minutes. Pour the liquid butter through a fine wire-mesh strainer, lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter, the discard the solids. Clarified butter has a long shelf life. If refrigerated, it will keep up to six months. So make a big batch and store it for the future. Use it to make scrambled eggs, cook just about anything in a skillet, or to add flavor to pasta, whole grains, or rice. By Southern Living Test Kitchen Southern Living Test Kitchen The Southern Living Test Kitchen has been publishing recipes since 1970, four years after the first issue of Southern Living Magazine appeared on newsstands. The Southern Living Test Kitchen team includes a team of professionals with deep expertise in recipe development, from pastry chefs and grilling experts to nutritionists and dietitians. Together, the team tests and retests, produces, styles, and photographs thousands of recipes each year in the state-of-the-art test kitchen facility located in Birmingham, Alabama. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on July 20, 2022 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Total Time: 5 mins Yield: 2/3 cup Ingredients 1 cup unsalted butter Directions Melt 1 cup unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium-high; bring to a boil. (The water content of the butter will foam and begin to evaporate.) Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until solids sink to the bottom of the saucepan, 5 minutes. Pour through a fine wire-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter; discard solids. Southern Living Rate it Print